Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous
This is the sixth episode of the first season of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Characters Protagonists: *Spider-Man *Felicia Hardy *Anastasia Hardy (first appearance) *Uncle Ben (flashback only) *J. Jonah Jameson *Robbie Robertson Antagonists: *Doctor Octopus (first appearance) Plot Spider-Man swings off to the home of Felicia Hardy as he has finally managed to get a date with her. Getting changed, Peter heads inside Felicia's mansion while outside, Doctor Octopus infiltrates the mansion's grounds. Peter is greeted by Felicia and when she goes to get a jacket, she is captured by Doctor Octopus who buries Peter under a pile of rubble. When Peter comes to he has trouble getting the F.B.I. agents to believe him when Anastasia Hardy arrives. She is shown a ransom note and recognizes the signature as Otto Octavius'. Hearing the name, Peter thinks back to when he was a young boy and his Uncle Ben took him to Otto Octavius' Science Camp. It was Octavius who inspired Peter to take a further interest into the sciences. As Spider-Man is swinging through the city looking for Dr. Octopus and Felicia, the two arrive at an abandoned warehouse. Octopus tells Felicia of how he came to the Hardy Foundation for money to fund his research but Anastasia soon cut the funds. Forced to work out of a basement without the proper safety procedures, Octavius was caught in a blast that fused him with his mechanical arms, creating Doctor Octopus. J. Jonah Jameson gives a news broadcast aimed for Doctor Octopus, telling him that they are ready to meet his demands if he will them what they are. Doctor Octopus then rings them up and after a heated discussion, demands that Jameson bring the money personally. Jameson arrives at the warehouse with Spider-Man secretly following him. Dr. Octopus confronts Jameson when Spider-Man arrives and attacks the villain. Being battered around Spider-Man is told that twice the amount of ransom money must be brought now that he has Jameson as well. After some stern words from Anastasia and Robbie Robertson Spider-Man decides that maybe Peter Parker can help the situation. At the Daily Bugle, Peter persuades everyone to let him deal with Doctor Octopus and manages to get the villain to agree to let him bring the ransom money. Peter brings the money to Doctor Octopus and he shows Peter his fusion reactor. When Peter demands that Felicia and Jameson be released, Doctor Octopus loses his temper and hurls Peter out of the window. Peter quickly gets changed and jumps back in the room as Spider-Man. Spidey manages to magnetize Doctor Octopus' arms to a machine but it also starts up an assembly line which threatens to have a rocket jet fire on top of Felicia and Jameson. Doctor Octopus is freed but grabs Spider-Man before he can save the hostages. Spider-Man is able to get to the fusion battery and throws it in the air to occupy Doctor Octopus while he saves Felicia and Jameson. Spider-Man just manages to get out and change back to his civilian clothes before Felicia comes outside looking for Peter. In prison, Doctor Octopus declares that he will soon be freed. Crew *Director: Bob Richardson *Writers: Brooks Watchel, Cynthia Harrison, Avi Arad, Stan Lee *Producers: Avi Arad, Stan Lee *Cast: **Christopher Daniel Barnes: Spider-Man **Jennifer Hale: Felicia Hardy **Ed Asner: J. Jonah Jameson **Rodney Saulsberry: Robbie Robertson **Efrem Zimbalist Jr.: Doctor Octopus **Dimitra Arliss: Anastasia Hardy Notes *Previous Episode: Menace of Mysterio *Next Episode: The Alien Costume Saga Part 1 *This episode first aired on February 18th 1995